One Star

Friday, August 9, 2019

People frequently ask how to get started with spirits. Often
they will ask “which goetic should I conjure first?” I think there are three
parts to answering that question.

First, the pedantic answer…”goetic” isn’t a type of spirit
you don’t conjure a goetic, goetic describes a host of practices. The spirits
are demons, or devils, or infernal spirits.

The second part of the answer would be…summon the spirit you
need. There is no reason to call one just to call one. They each have things
they do. Make a choice based on what you need to call one for. Of the handful
that seem appropriate to your need or goal, do divination to pick the right one…or
work with your spirits. Wait, you don’t have spirits? Well then that leads us
to the third part of the answer.

The third part being…that might not be the place to start if
you’re just trying to experience spirit contact. Develop the skill set. Develop
facility with the spirit world. Develop a support structure in the spirit
world. If you were born with spirit connections you should have spirits – usually
of the dead sometimes not; who have come to you and developed with you through
life. If that’s not the case, spirits of the natural world, of the places you
frequent, they are easy to approach. From there, the Olympic Spirits and The
Dead are the easiest to start with. Beginning work in a more formal structure
is probably best started there…although both involve much less formal
structures than what you’ll do when working with infernal spirits.

So how do you get started with the dead especially if you don’t
have a group of spirits you work already?

If you have work that connects you with the world of the
dead, journeying there in spirit, approaching its guardians and asking for
access to the spirit with whom you want to make contact can be a good way to
start. But it’s a method that can be kind of involved.

If you have deceased relatives who you knew in life, they can
be easier to connect with initially. They may also be harder to choose to
connect to depending upon your relationship with them. One thing to remember is
that your pool of ancestors is much bigger than the people you knew in life.
Those people might just seem more immediately reachable. But your blood ancestry
spreads back multiplying over and over. Beyond them you have friends, friends
of family, professional ancestors, and many others who may have a connection or
interest in you.

So how to reach them without a katabsis?

Start with prayers to those who keep the dead and those would
can help you reach those keepers and the dead themselves. Move to prayers for
the way to be made open and for the dead to be brought. Offer that those who
aid may receive a portion of whatever is offered. Once everything is set, light
a candle for the dead, or for each of the dead, say their names as you do so.
Then pour water for them. Either a glass or a small cup for each.

Offer the candle light as a guiding light for the dead, but
also as warmth and energy with which they can burn through into this world, and
as a shining place which they can inhabit as we sit with them. Offer the water
to cool and soothe them and as a way to receive their presence.

From there, incense, food, honey, flowers, liquor, and other
special tokens can be given as offerings.

The big thing at this point is just talking with them. Let them
know you’re happy they’re with you, thank them for help they’ve given you, ask
them to keep looking after you. Tell them what gifts you’re giving them. Talk
with them about your life. About your concerns, about your family. Talk with
them about things you’d talk about with someone who cares about you.

In the end thank them for the time they’re giving you and for
sitting with you.

That’s pretty much it.

While its going on just be open, listen, feel, but don’t
chase it. Don’t hope for it, don’t worry about what comes or doesn’t. Rest in
the space of the work and you’ll get to the point of connection more easily
than you might expect.

For the purposes of this post, I want to draw some attention
to something cool…the Luxumbrian Church of Light and Shadow. Witchcraft Christianity.

So the example I’m going to give for ritual will be one
modeled for that context. When you build a model for working with the
ancestors, model it to your religious context, or at least your beliefs
regarding the dead. This example will work for you if you’re working from a
Luciferian Catholic perspective.

You will need a candle, an incense burner and coal, incense –
preferably Church or Temple incense, or Frankincense; a candle for each of the
deceased and a small cup for water. Any other offerings you wish to make.

Light an initial candle.

Say:
Lord hear my prayer, and let my cry come unto thee.

With the words “pray for us” make the Sign of the Cross

Saint Peter, pray for us

Saint Cyprian, pray for us

Saint Benedict, pray for us

Saint Lucy, pray for us

Saint Barbara, pray for us

Saint Joan of Arc, pray for us

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us

Saint Azrael the Angel of Death, pray for us

Lord, those who die still live in Your presence. Their
lives change, but do not end. I pray in hope for my family, relatives, and
friends and for all the dead known only to You. Unite us together again in one
family, so that we may reside together in peace forever and ever.

Morning Star, who marks the dawn of the day, Evening
Star who marks the dusk. Light Bringer who is at our beginning and at our end,
be with us now. Christ, whose spirit is joined to the spirits of all mankind, Lucifer
who serves the Father as the Light of the World, be a light for the souls of
the dead, be the light by which our sacred flame shall serve to guide, bring
forth, and cradle the souls of the beloved dead.

Hail Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, Queen
of Heaven, Lady of the World, Empress of Hell, have mercy on us and on all
people, both, living and dead in need of your mercy and your strength.

Saint Peter, foundation of the Church, be as to us
the foundation of this rite. Christ gave to you the Keys of Heaven and Earth, call
forth from the Book of Life and make open the way for our beloved dead.

Put a bit of incense on the coal and say

May the world be made sweet to receive the dead and
the blessings of the Lord and his retinue.

At this point light a candle for each ancestor you wish to
invite saying their name and pouring them a cup of water. Make any offerings
you wish to make for them and for the Heavenly powers that aided in bringing
them. Then talk with them openly and candidly. The more you treat them like you
would other guests the closer they will come.

Again, if this isn’t your jam, then you can use this same
structure but change the prayers out for the powers and spirits appropriate to
your approach.

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Note: I had been working on this for some time as a means to
help people educate themselves on spirit possession and as a call to look
forward to what the future of “Western magic” is. Sunday night the need for
education on this topic became more obviously pressing about the time I was
writing the final two paragraphs. This article is not written as a response or
swipe but simply to further education. I hope it does that and I hope it helps
bring people to greater magical work.

Spirit Possession in the Modern Western Tradition

Before we even get to the topic, it makes sense to address
the idea of Western Tradition and concepts of magic…briefly. In stating this
I’m not attempting to be political but rather to suggest better terminology so
that we can reach further. When we say Western Tradition we’re generally
speaking from a position of Anglophone bias, or at least a position of
Eurocentricism. There are many
traditions in the West which are not part of what we generally conceive of as
the Western Tradition. These however can be important for comparison and
exploration, and their place within the array of Western spiritual traditions
can help elucidate their place in relation to our experience. The words Western
Tradition also often refers to a limited view of Europe’s spiritual heritage.
We look at a late period of alchemy and the masonic renditions of esoteric
philosophy and practice rather than the full scope and the many iterations
thereof. Most typically we look at it filtered through a late 19th
century British lens called the Golden Dawn.

I, and many other magicians, have found it useful to limit
the use of the term “ceremonial magic” to this post Golden Dawn style of magic,
or the slightly broader late Rosicrucian systems of the magical revival. There
is significant difference between these approaches and earlier European
approaches. Even during the time of the magical revival we can see variant
streams arising each with their own unique elements and character despite the
prominence of the one generally described as Ceremonial Magic.

The various modes of magic operating in Europe: witchcraft,
cunning folk work, learned magic and the manifold other approaches which often
blended and influenced each other; I have begun referring to collectively as
European Traditional Magic. It’s a general term which still clarifies working
or discussing practices along a particular historical axis without narrowing to
a single movement. Within that we can break down many things. It gives us an
umbrella comparable to the sweeping ideas of African Diaspora Religions and
African Traditional Religions.

When we begin to address things this way we can begin to step
outside the bounds of ceremonial magic and look at a more detailed view of the
vast and diverse overlapping forms that create the stream of practices and
ideas that are European Traditional Magic. We can begin to see deeper more
complete explanations of practices throughout our magical heritage. We can
begin to find points of comparison with other living traditions and they can
shed light on further reasons why and ways in which to do the things we’re
doing. We can begin to elucidate our practices and our understanding in ways
which allow us to take them further through deeper exploration of the thing
itself as well as comparison and sharing with other approaches.

When we begin to do this we by necessity move away from the
sterility and isolation which sometimes characterizes modern occult practice.
In its efforts to be a science ceremonial magic often abandons the visceral,
the bodily, the spiritual reality of things. It often clings to formalized
educational structures and treats them as the meat of ritual and in doing so
strips actuality from things in favor of understanding all as symbol. It keeps
things clean and formal where sometimes they should be a little messy and free.

This isn’t always the case, and it definitely comes down to
people’s individual preferences and modes of action. But an honest review of
the norm will reveal that often this is the nature of things. We keep at arms
length a lot of things which would be the core of spiritual and magical
practice in living traditions around the world. We’re often magicians in lab
coats instead of shirtless in overalls sweating in the sun.

We can talk about a lot of material elements of magic and how
magic through European history and in living traditions around the world
engages the powers of materials, but that, while exemplary of the difference
between ceremonial magic and other systems, is really a separate topic than what
we’re discussing.

In a recent discussion a close friend and I were talking
about the space opening up for people engaging in European Traditional Magic to
begin to build living sorcerous traditions which provide models for engaging in
European magical traditions with the same kinds of context, support and
features we see in the living traditions of Central and South America. There
are methods there for developing and cultivating spirit engagement, clarifying
information received from the spirit world, and utilizing that information to
effectively work magic for real and potent change both personally and in our
communities. Looking more deeply at the history of European magic we see hints,
pieces, and clues towards European magical culture that once provided similar
modes for building effective magicians.

Magicians looking to grab onto that meaningful deep
connection to human spiritual heritage often end up drawn to ADR and ATR
systems because those traditions for engaging and effectively working with the
spirit world are more or less intact there. They are evolved to work within the
context of human social needs and therefore answer things that people are
looking for on more than just a spiritual basis.

In looking at how a living tradition drawing on European
spirits and traditions would take shape three things that we obviously need to
look at are:

1. How do we pass power and pact, how do we create and
transfer the agreement with spirits to work with a line of magicians? How do we
pass charisma or spiritual power from one magician to the next?
2. How do we connect with and embody the powers of these spirits to work with them
as a community and as individuals; how do we engage them to speak with us, to
whisper to us as needed; how do we bring them into on going proximity with us?
3. How do we clarify their messages to us, how do we reduce the impact of our
biases and create consistent ways of receiving information for ourselves and
others with some confidence that it is a message from the spirit without the
overwhelming power of our own fantasies taking hold?

Even if we aren’t looking to build living traditions of European Traditional
Magic these questions are useful to ask. The Greek Magical Papyri answer, or
shape movement towards the direction of answers to these on some level.
European Witchcraft provides a lot of answers or help towards answers. The
grimoires give details of how these answers can be expressed and worked. For
our part though, today we’re going to talk about question two and some of the
broader context surrounding it.

When we look at how we embody spirits for our experience and
that of those around us one of the common modes throughout the world is through
spirit possession. When we consider a relationship in which a spirit sits with
us an speaks with us and influences us through our day to day lives, we are
again looking at a form of spirit possession, although one which is for the
most part foreign to European and American awareness.

As I write this I am rewatching, for the third time, Fox’s
adaptation of The Exorcist into a TV series. It’s a lot of fun, but actually
deals with some religious and theological ideas in interesting ways. It’s also
a horror TV show and so it depicts exorcism and possession and otherworldly
spirits in the most horrific ways. It’s not inventing these depictions, it’s
drawing on centuries of European and Anglophone apprehension of the idea of
demons and possession and the terror of involuntary spiritual contact. It’s a
good example of what people tend to assume when they think of possession.

Those assumptions don’t only exist in the minds of the
non-magical folks. Work with demons is something which is part of the
intellectual heritage of ceremonial magic. The actual manifestation of the idea
is often treated as a psychological exercise, or as something which people are
aware has been done but don’t necessarily do themselves. For more Neo-Pagan and
New Age magical traditions, despite the influence they take from ceremonial
magic, the possibility of work with demons is part of why they often look at
ceremonial magic as some dangerous and frightening system to warn new seekers
away from. There certainly isn’t the sense of fire is dangerous, but if we
understand and work with fire correctly it’s useful, when it comes to demons in
many modern magical contexts.

For many, not for everyone, the idea of working with an
actual demon, not a psychological construct, is an idea which is somewhat
confrontational. It forces questions about what they believe about spirits and
about magic. Or it forces us to enter into a space which may be uncomfortable,
or dangerous or frightening.

So when we enter into that space we do so with very specific
guidelines, calling on very specific spirits, in ways which keep them far from
us locked in place by curses and other spiritual powers. Personally, I’m not
one to argue against that approach. For a lot of things it’s a reasonable
approach. For many people it should probably be the approach. Historically its
not the only approach. Historically we also have many spirits to work with who
aren’t devils, and so more engaging approaches may be more reasonable for
working with them.

For people used to only addressing spirits in a very formal
and separate mode the idea of experiencing them in a context like possession is
perhaps beyond the pale.

While the most common view of possession the average person
in the first world has is one related to involuntary spiritual assault, it is
by far not the only or even most common experience of spirit possession.

When we look at traditions in Central and South America and
in the Caribbean positive voluntary spirit possession is a common religious and
magical practice. These traditions are the ones which have most readily made
their way into the awareness of people in the USA, and I would assume in
Britain and Europe. But they are not the only voluntary spirit possession
traditions.

In 1994 Nicholas Spanos published “Multiple identity
enactments and multiple personality disorder: A sociocognitive perspective” in
_Psychological Bulletin. vol. 116. no. 1_. Spanos takes a meta-analysis
approach to explore multiplicity in an attempt to prove that rather than simply
a disease it is a social construct. I don’t believe that cases of possession
are simply a psycho-social experience but the article is interesting in
comparing it to other forms of multiplicity and exploring a cross cultural view
of possession and its role in societies in which it has a positive element.

He opens his discussion of possession by saying:

“Multiple self enactments occur in most but not all cultures
(Bourguinon, 1976). In many traditional societies and in some subcultural
contexts in North American society, multiple self enactments take the form of
spirit possession. In these cases, it is believed that the human occupant of
the body is temporarily displaced by another self or selves that are defined as
spirits who temporarily take over control of the body.”

Spanos then goes on to reference several studies which
provide information on the frequency of possession in various cultures and
regions. Sri Lanka, South India, Malagasy, the Sudan, North America, the and
the Songhay people are all cited as providing examples. Examples in Europe, and
England get brought up. Spiritualist movement rituals and European witchcraft
are referenced as connecting to examples of possession.

Possession exists throughout the world in various spiritual
traditions and it manifests in various modes.

Again, within European traditions we see voluntary possession
in traditions of witchcraft, we likely see it in sybilline and oracular
traditions of antiquity. We see it in the Dionysian cultus, and we see it
echoed in central elements of Christianity that continued those mysteries. We
see it in Spiritualism, and Spiritism and in the New World Traditions that
adopted the work of Kardec to blend with memories of African and Native
traditions. Go back into antiquity we see it hinted at in cave paintings we
associate with Shamanism, and we see it in the survivals of the steppe
traditions of Eurasia.

It’s not a foreign or an unusual thing. It’s a missing piece
of our puzzle. Full stop.

But maybe it’s not part of OUR magic? Maybe it’s not part of
the heritage of ceremonial magic? Is “our magic” confined simply
to ceremonial magic though? Is there a reason we can’t absorb the full breadth
of our spiritual heritage?

Whatever the answer is, the idea that spirit possession is
not part of the heritage of ceremonial magic is simply false. The easiest
example is the Sacred Magic of Abramelin and the relationship with the Holy
Guardian Angel. While the book does not market itself as “Hey get possessed by
an angel!” that is essentially what’s happening. To understand this though we
need to recognize that possession is not always full possession.

In Catholicism and also in other magical and religious
traditions of voluntary possession, possession occurs with differing stages.
Essentially we can understand it as first being an intimate connection between
the possessed and the spirit. The spirit is within the sphere of the possessed
and they interact very closely, sharing a deep and connected awareness of each
other. The next phase is one in which the space between them blurs, the spirit
and the person share the same space and awareness and actions may be a
combination of the will and influence of each. The primary awareness/control
may shift back and forth between the person and the spirit. The final phase is
a more complete experience of possession, the spirit takes hold and is in the
driver’s seat, the person may or may not be aware or may or may not remember
what happens.

When a magician completes the Abramelin retreat they enter
into a relationship with the angel which can be understood in the context of
that first phase of possession. Much of the work done with The Sacred Magic is
based on the magician operating in this state. The magician and the Angel work
together, the Angel sits with the magician and communicates directly with him.
The Angel clarifies and aids in communication with other spirits and speaks to
the magician to guide his magical work. Much of the relationship here is
similar to the partial possession relationships we see with priests, magicians,
and elders in other traditions than incorporate some sort of seating of a
spirit as part of the process of attaining such a status. This does not make
the spirits or the process involved the same as what is involved when working
with the Holy Guardian Angel, but it does provide a point of contact in which
comparison can help deepen our understanding of what the relationship can be.

NeoPagan witchcraft comes primarily out of the Gerald
Gardner’s Wica, and he built his system largely from his awareness of Thelema.
Forms which descend from Gardner adopt a significant amount of their methods
from Golden Dawn inspired writers like Regardie and Dion Fortune. So practices
there still tell us something about how people engage the methods associated
with ceremonial magic.

People might say that spirit possession does not exist in
such systems, but a performative possession is a central act in Wicca, both
eclectic and traditional. Whether actual partial possession occurs or not is up
to those who engage in these practices, but the idea of Drawing Down the Moon
is one which is based on the concept of possession. The priestess invokes, or
has invoked into her, the Goddess so that she can embody that presence and
speak and act as the Goddess for her community of witches. The idea here is no
different than possession in other more traditional religious and magical
cultures.

This practice stems from the magic of Thelema and the Golden
Dawn.

In the Golden Dawn the Assumption of Godforms is an important
technique for embodying and applying spiritual powers. The process however
isn’t typically the same as spirit possession. Some approaches treat these
divine forms as formulas or static functions rather than as actual beings. In
instances where it is treated as a more holistic connection with a spiritual
being it can be much more dynamic. Crowley’s approach to this kind of spiritual
interaction opens the door for a more mystical experience. In Crowley’s Liber
Astarte the magician engages in a series of practices and utilizes a stirring
invocation to call upon a divine power to reside in him and join him through
his acts of devotion. Liber Astarte is less performative, it’s less about creating
an experience of that divine power for those around the magician.

In Thelemic practices we do see a more community version of
this in the Gnostic Mass. Again not precisely calling on a spirit to possess
you. Through adornments, ritual actions, and prayers the priest and priestess
embody certain spiritual forces, which some view as actual divinities and some
don’t. Many in those roles do experience a state akin to multiplicity or a
certain dissociation or adjustment in their awareness. So there is, at the
least, an overlap.

The Mass influences Gardner’s Wica specifically. The process
of a priest and priestess working to aid in invoking the respective divine
influences shows up in the rituals of Wica. This is what leads to Drawing Down
the Moon. Drawing Down the Moon, and the forms of invocation that it developed
from, lead to the common practices of invoking and embodying gods in various
forms of NeoPaganism.

So Abramelin is a fairly clear example of a form of spirit
possession as an important developmental form of magic in European Traditional
Magic systems. We can see examples of spirit possession in historical forms of
witchcraft in Europe. We see examples in various forms of magic in antiquity.
Their legacy in modern magic gave rise to Assuming Godforms, Liber Astarte, the
Mass, Drawing Down the Moon, and NeoPagan invocations. They’re not precisely
the same, but they show an echo of the concept and a space in which it could
fit…if we felt the need to fit it in rather than address it in its own space.

In short, spirit possession is a part of the heritage of
ceremonial magic. Even if it weren’t it would still be part of our magical
heritage. With that being so, why would we need to fit that piece back into the
puzzle, how do we do it, and how does it look when we do it?

In Spanos’s article he says:

“In many societies, spirit possession occurs as part of
helping rituals. The medium becomes possessed by a spirit or by successive
spirits, and it is the spirits who diagnose the client, prescribe treatments,
or offer advice for problems in living.”

When we look at the idea of a magician as someone people go
to for their problems, for serious life issues, for help, we imagine a
consultant. We imagine someone who reads the cards, throws the bones, or casts
a chart and measures out problems and solutions and then executes magical
rituals.

In most societies the central element of this work is a
relationship with spirits. Divination is the reception of knowledge from divine
or otherworldly sources. It isn’t an empty review of some cards, it’s
communication through a tool with an unseen power so that the tool allows that
power to speak to us more clearly.

Partial possession assists in this mode of spirit work in a
few ways. The magician who has a possessing spirit knows the voice, the tone,
the tenor of that spirit. He can recognize and understand it more readily and
more clearly. While the tool may speak for another spirit his possessing spirit
can help guide him in interpreting it, and in receiving more of the
communication.

If the spirit from whom the magician is receiving information
is the possessing spirit then the work with the tool will be a work familiar to
both the magician and the spirit and will draw them into a closer state of
communication. The tool will help guide and further clarify the communication
but the spirit will already have a direct line to communicating with the
magician. The spirit may even communicate with the client directly through the
magician.

Depending upon the tool used the possessing spirit may help
guide the magician’s actions in using the tool, bringing about a clearer more
directed outcome or ensuring the tool is used in a manner which will provide
the answer which is needed.

These sorts of benefits can be achieved through various forms
of direct spirit work as part of divination. The closer the relationship with
the spirit the clearer the communication will be, the more easily the magician
will receive the communication and the more readily the spirit will desire to
be of assistance. So while we might not
look at this and say “Yeah, people doing this kind of work, particularly for
others should have a possessing spirit” it should be fairly clear that a
relationship with and engagement of a spirit in this work at least borders on
necessary.

January 28th 2018 The Independent published an
article by Julia Buckley which was primarily an excerpt from her book on her efforts
to find relief from Chronic Pain. She had traveled around to a bunch of gurus
and healers and hadn’t really gotten anywhere. While she went into her attempt
to receive help from a Haitian Voodoo priest expecting it to be psychological
she ended up experiencing much more. Her description of the event, which she
recognizes as unreliable and which has strong hints of the racism she denies at
the beginning, clearly conveys that she experienced something real and much
more than she expected. Not only did she experience more relief than she had
elsewhere but she was moved to continue honoring, in her own way, the spirits
who had helped her.

The experience was one of being healed by a spirit possessing
the man in front of her. She recognized the priest as possessed, she recognized
feeling a presence in the room. She recognized the behaviors and natures of the
spirits involved. She understood that when she spoke with the man after he had
finished the procedure she was speaking with the spirit possessing him. Earlier
in the article she noted miraculous instances of healing he had done but also
noted that he did not want to take credit or be viewed as a healer. To me this
seems to indicate an understanding that he is a medium through which the spirit
is acting.

What’s significant here is that the spirit was able to engage
the situation directly in ways that spiritual people weren’t as able to.
Paracelsus wrote about the invisible causes of disease, and of man’s
predicaments. He explained that there are spiritual factors which impact our
state of harmony, which disrupt it, and create problems we experience and how
realigning those can improve us. He carries this forward to interacting with
certain spiritual beings to create that harmony.

This concept is the basic concept of hermetic medicine. The
components of a person, the elements, the planetary rays which build up the
nature of who we are, when in balance they create health, they create a
positive flow of influences which allow good things in our lives. When they are
out of balance they distort us and our experience of and interaction with the
world. This is the idea behind humorism, behind astrological diagnosis and
treatment, behind most traditional forms of western occult medicine.

Over time we have of coursed learned about other invisible
causes. Bacteria, viruses, anxiety, stress, genetic factors, things which we
have learned to make visible but which once seemed like inexplicable and
unpredictable magical factors. That does not take away the reality of Paracelsus’s
invisible causes, or of ancient beliefs in afflicting spirits, it simply adds
to that reality.

Paracelsus’s work describing invisible causes explains them
as existing in a Gabalistic (Kabbalistic) or Olympian hypostasis, or a level of
creation existing in a spiritual or ideal state. That hypostasis reflects the
existence and nature of a more pure and divine hypostasis above it, moving
backwards to the original discursive moments of creation. Likewise moving
forward towards nature there exist more and more material hypostases,
eventually resulting in the macrolevel of our perceptions.

With that in mind those physical invisible causes which we
have discovered through science are perhaps hypostatic echoes of some other
spiritual state of disquiet. Thus that which seems immovable by the means
available to us becomes moveable when the spiritual state is rectified. In the
case of Julia Buckley she achieved relief when the Baron reached in and removed
the afflicting spiritual attachment in her arm. The spirit was able to perceive
some unknown affliction which had attached itself to her, and operating on the
same hypostatic level thereof was able to reach in and remove it. But it still
situated itself upon her in such a fashion as to move the more physical levels
of her experience to develop the physical components of her affliction. She
likely needed more physical follow up to keep the pain from returning.

This story illustrates the role of the possessing spirit in
diagnosing and treating the problems an individual presents. In many cases the
spirit could be worked with through conjuration or other means to perceive and
address the cause. Working with the spirit through a medium allows for the
spirit to also communicate something about the nature of the cause and what
further steps should be taken to help correct the problems involved, whether
those steps are ritual or spiritual steps or corresponding mundane work. In my
experience it will often be both. If we simply conjure a spirit and ask it to heal
someone that debrief, or consult element is less easily tenable, though not
fully untenable. It will likely still involve some mediumistic work though.

Communication in general is a big component of this mode of
spirit working.

We’ve talked about how it can help with consultation and
diagnosis, with treatment and with the application of magical solutions in
client driven or community scenarios. But as magicians often we have a
curiosity regarding the unseen world.

It is well attested that medieval and later priests
understood that the modes of exorcism used by the Church could be minorly
adjusted to conjure a spirit. In fact the words exorcism and conjuration are
essentially of the same meaning. With this we also understand that priests came
to know that the demon once bound in an exorcism – whether an exorcism to save
a demoniac or a more ceremonial ritual to call upon a demon; could be
questioned and could reveal a great deal of information which the priest or magician
could not obtain otherwise. The Church even had rules against engaging the
demon in such interrogation and instructions for exorcism retain advice against
doing so.

For magicians this is a big component of magic.

We know that many great luminaries of the European world were
also magicians and often the pursuit of magic was one through which they hoped
to gain knowledge and understanding beyond what science could otherwise afford
them. Theology was one of the highest intellectual pursuits and so the
spiritual worlds were clearly the source for knowledge beyond that of
philosophy and the lower disciplines found in the quadrivium and trivium.

For most of us working in an anglophone context, whether
working European Traditional Magic or ceremonial magic, working for clients and
the community is less the norm. We’re generally working for our own pursuits.
For many people they are working largely for a spiritual or mystical purpose.
So exploring spirits as a way to obtain information makes sense when it is
information about which we are curious. Many spirits listed in grimoires are
great for learning things and the constraints used are very much based on
keeping the spirit honest. Many magicians still look to the grimoires curious
about gaining new knowledge and power based on calling a spirit to provide it.

But how do they provide that knowledge or confer that power?

Working with scrying they may show you images or visual or
auditory bits that suggest things. But if the spirit is truly possessing a competent
medium the details of expression can be much more significant. The follow up
questions are easier to ask.

Instead of worrying about conjuring to visible appearance, or
scrying and banishing phantasms possession allows us to have a face to face with
the spirit in a human body. For some spirits this is a much more appropriate
method than constraining a manifestation. Regardless of the type of spirit it
is an interesting experience, to say the least, standing across from a
possessed person, asking them questions, recognizing the behaviors and words
that don’t fit the person in front of you and grasping the ways in which the
answers inform you of things beyond their knowledge. It is a particularly
satisfying mode of spirit interaction, and one which carries with it a very
powerful presence and provides an experience of significant impact.

To continue with addressing the last two questions I posed,
how does it look and how do we do it, I’m going to say a lot less than I have
otherwise on the topic. Most of what I’ve presented has been the argument that
factually speaking the Western Tradition is bigger than the terms imply, and
that even within the small scope we use them for this sort of work is
historically important. We’ve also looked at why this work is important both
for our systems and for other systems. These are things for which we can pull
lots of examples and speak a little less subjectively.

For what its like to work with this kind of possession in a
European context and how we should do it, I feel the answers are much more open
to discussion and experimentation. I’d like more to invite you to experiment
and explore and present than to try and tell you “this is it, do it like this
and it should seem like this.”

I think we have a lot less in terms of modern examples
working from a ceremonial or European approach and so there is room for you to
help build those examples.

I recently led a pretty amazing ritual William Blake Lodge utilizing methods for working with spirits from European Traditional Magic
sources in this kind of spirit possession celebration context. It was very
different. We worked with a demon, which made it more aggressive and
confrontational, but it was a demon who was a familiar spirit and so it worked.
People were impressed. We had impressive results. You can read about it on my
blog in parts One and Two of a post on the subject, which includes the ritual
we used. About a month later a witch who is a member of our Lodge also led a
ritual which involved spirit possession. Sadly I missed it due to other
obligations but I’ve heard amazing things about how the night went.

Fingers on the pulse of the magical community know that
rebuilding our magical heritage beyond the incomplete knowledge of the
Victorian era is essential, especially when we consider traditions and
organizations which want to stay relevant.

Sadly, possession can be a little scary, as we’ve noted. It
needs to be handled in responsible ways and ways which are informed by
significant magical knowledge from a cross-traditional perspective. Not
everyone is ready for that. But, we’re getting there. It’s a powerful and
useful tool, and one which is coming back into our purview.

Monday, June 24, 2019

It may have been more appropriate to call this drinking with a demon…we ate
food, mostly after hanging out with the demon. But the demon was only
interested in the booze. You know, you bring someone out for a nice evening and
then you realize in the end they only want one thing…I guess that’s just how it
goes.

Anyway.
This ritual was an interesting experience, leading up to it, during, and after.
The original ritual, the one in which we originally bound the demon, was cool
too. But it had less of a lead up, probably because we didn’t have a
relationship with the demon being called beforehand, whereas this time we had
two years of work with the spirit who was literally taking center chair.

When
we did the original ritual I had spent weeks prepping. Making the incenses, the
paint, collecting and consecrating tools, preparing myself. Building the space
for the experience and drawing together the forces to create it. Again, nothing
too interesting happened as part of that process though, at least nothing that
jumps to mind two years later.

During
the ritual itself we had a couple pretty cool moments though. Particularly,
visions the scryer had of the spirit responding to things I was doing of which
she was unaware, and then multiple people having visions of the same spirit.
Several other people came up and told me that they had interesting experiences
communing with the spirit. Part of me has always kind of wondered about people
individually communing with a spirit simultaneously. In most smaller group
rituals I’ve run people take turns interacting with the spirit or interact
through a central person. I never really heard what people got out of the
ritual in this case. But again, since multiple people had the same vision of
the spirit maybe the spirit can talk with more than one person at a time. It
makes sense from certain angles.

This
ritual was different from that though.

This
time we were calling on a spirit with whom we have a very involved
relationship. He is housed prominently in our lodge space with his own altar.
His altar receives decorations and gifts during parties. He’s fed according to
his contract every event and sometimes more often than that. He has a close
relationship with his two primary caretakers. He has been involved with one of
them previously in possession work during a spirit fete hosted by a guest
organization. So the spirit is pretty closely tied to us, and in particularly
closely tied with the woman who would be his vessel.

The
things that happened before we called the demon were pretty minor.
Coincidences, synchronicities. Maybe they were nothing. Maybe they were the
demon poking at things.

With
this ritual I did not do weeks of preparation. I barely had time to put the
ritual together. I had hoped to. But it just wasn’t the time. Everything seemed
to lead me away from preparation, so I ended up running around just before the
ritual frantically grabbing things…but then also realizing…I needed a lot less
for this.

One
of the things I needed was perfume. While prepping the ritual the thought
entered my head that this wasn’t a Holy Water ritual. It should be sensual.
Perfumes and colognes should replace the Holy Water. Robes should be replaced,
for most people, by freedom to dress or undress as they so desired. It should
be an opportunity to, as certain goats say, live deliciously.

I
did not want to bring the Old Spice I had at home. I wanted new cologne. So I
went to the store and discovered all the perfumes and colognes were locked
up…except…for the Old Spice. It was the day before Fathers’ Day and they did
not even have colognes in the Fathers’ Day aisle. I only had a few minutes and
there were no sales people. I was stuck with Old Spice. It was weird because
the Old Spice was about $8 and some of the locked-up colognes went as low as
$4. There was no logic.

When
I got to the Lodge somehow the Old Spice ended up on the table in the meeting
room, all my other supplies were still in the single box I carried into the
temple. When I happened into the meeting room our Vessel was questioning why it
was there and if someone was pranking her. When I explained what it was and how
we ended up with it, she explained that her father generally smelled of Old
Spice and Deet. She’d been outside at an event all day and was covered in Deet
and now I’d be baptizing her in Old Spice. Due to past trauma she has no
contact with her father or other members of her family. Based on some other
conversation and interaction with the spirit this was taken potentially as a
prank at his arranging and it was determined to stick with the plan rather than
adjust.

Almost
immediately after this, the Lodge’s Abramelin oil was found to be missing. So
we had to switch the anointing oil to High John the Conquerer, which honestly
seemed more appropriate for reconfirming the demon. High John has associations with
blues and blues musicians are children of the devil – their own words not mine.
The magic associated with High John has more connection to figures like the
crossroads devil, than the temple and angelic associations of the Abramelin
Oil.

There
was also some strange luck with the floor circles in which I was confused about
which King I was calling. Each spirit we called had a circle drawn on the floor
placed based upon its role or nature. After drawing the circles on the floor
based on my mistake…it turned out the circle was accidentally in place for the
correct King, before I realized I needed to correct which King. It also
improved the position for the Ancestors. The fortuitousness ended there as I
looked up the wrong seal, but it worked out.

At
least a few days before these things happened, it seems that another spirit may
have helped organize one of the gifts given to the lodge’s familiar. The lodge
recently did a ritual to the Witches’ Devil which resulted in people being
given familiars. There were some physical signs around the demon’s altar that
this ritual happening excited him. One of the main caretakers for our demon
explained how his familiar wanted to get a particular item as an offering, when
it didn’t work out his familiar told him not to worry about it that he’d taken
care of it otherwise. Someone else ended up attending, and this hard to find
item was the gift he gave. Apparently it arrived the same day he had been drawn
to a bunch of items which related to the caretaker’s familiar. This person was
previously unaware of the other familiars.

Like
I said, small stuff. Maybe nothing, maybe something. I’m being a little vague
on the gift one, which is unfortunate because of the small things it’s the most
interesting.

When
we conjured the demon there were two elements to the final conjuration. One was
me using names from the Hygromanteia to open the Vessel while she used a
modified conjuration from the PGM. The two ended up fitting perfectly, the last
word of each ending at the same moment. When the connection between the Demon
and the Vessel solidified he announced his presence by shooting back a full goblet
of whiskey. This kind of kicked off the rest of the process. Which was largely
drinking…a lot.

The
Vessel isn’t a fan of bourbon, and is allergic to wormwood. In the span of
about 40 minutes or so she did “shots” but those shots were full goblets of
whiskey and some absinthe. There were probably fifteen or so of these. During
the ritual it wasn’t striking the insane amount of alcohol she consumed but
later on it dawned on me. She remained lucid, coherent, stable, completely
unaffected for about two hours until the possession ended. When it wrapped up
there were two intense rounds of projectile vomiting of massive amounts of dark
vomit. Significantly more than seemed reasonable. I’ve done heavy alcohol
rituals with this woman before with no vomiting and I’ve seen her drunk on a
lot less. Honestly, she probably shouldn’t have been standing by the end of the
ritual let alone the time after the ritual. Once we wrapped up the spirit
continued to speak to people privately through her. She requested an agreement
with the spirit beforehand that he not indulge so much that she wouldn’t be
able to function at an outdoor event the next day. The next day she was
completely fine and able to function.

A
few days later we spoke about the experience, and she explained she had no
memory of anything after the point where we were doing the prayers together
until the point where she was laying on a couch after vomiting. Not in a black
out drunk kind of way. Her awareness ended before that started.

While
the spirit was interacting with people, standing a few feet away from him was
like standing in waves of sickening fire. But when the spirit was excited and
focused on talking with someone the fire focused in and relented. His aura
would then reextend with its waves of discomfort when he became less focused
again. It was kind of an interesting experience. I was glad for the assistance
of the Benedictine Rosary consecrated to Hekate, Mary, and the Dead which I was
wearing.

The
spirit also went on a long speech about why he was sent to us, and the work
we’d been doing. In doing so he began answering questions I debated asking but
had elected not to and hadn’t discussed with anyone. He touched on themes that
had come up in dreams and spirit experiences since I was a child, which I
hadn’t discussed with the lodge members. He even used descriptions that matched
how I understood certain spiritual powers and which related to some of my more
private magical work. Some of the description even touched on key words that
overlapped both an important dream from my 20s and an unpublished translation
of a medieval text I did a couple years ago.

All
in all the ritual seemed a success. I’d never worked with instigating a
possession before. The ritual was definitely more demoniacal than was the norm
for me, and to some degree as we prepared for it that stood out more than it
did when just reading it. My understanding is that at least one participant had
a pretty intense experience of one of the powers which were invoked to prepare
the ritual. I would definitely try it again. It was a useful and workable way
for interacting with the spirit. For the most part nothing material was asked
for outside of the spirit’s normal work. If anyone tries a varied version of
this with other spirits I’d love to hear how your results go, especially
practical ones.

Friday, June 21, 2019

In 2017 I was asked to put together a
ritual for William Blake Lodge, OTO’s 25th anniversary party. My
blog doesn’t usually deal with Thelema or the OTO too often, I talk a lot more
about more traditional magic. One of the nice things at WBL is we have a lot of
people interested in exploring traditional magic. Those of you who know me
probably also know that I like to help spread that interest where I can. So
when I was given the opportunity to give the ritual which would cap the night
for the celebration, which would have a bunch of people attending, I knew I
needed to do something which brought together the OTO’s system with traditional
spirit magic.

I used Jake Stratton-Kent’s _Goetic Liturgy_ as my inspiration but instead of combining a grimoire with an A.’.A.’.
ritual, I found ways to connect with the OTO and the EGC while building a
ritual that drew on _The Cambridge Book of Magic_, _The Heptameron_ and _Discouerie of Witchcraft_. This post isn’t about that ritual though. We conjured a demon
from the Book of the Offices of Spirits and requested from it a familiar
spirit. We bound that spirit to an animal skull in a jar using iron nails,
blood based paint, herbs incense soil and more. The familiar spirit was charged
with aiding the Lodge.

Most Lodge members, even some who
surprised me in doing so, seem to have recognized the positive effect the
familiar has had since 2017. We had some rough stuff going on just prior to
that, but things have turned around and improved and people are happy. A lot of
that has to do with our Lodge Master, in my opinion, but the effects of the
spirit are definitely there too. Additionally
there has been a really great magical environment in general. I recommend that
other OTO bodies and occult lodges may want to consider binding a familiar in a
manner which ties it into their current.

Since people have been happy with the
spirit’s work we decided to celebrate the spirit’s “birthday.” While the ritual
to conjure it was a fairly formal, in a circle, wearing lamens, participants doused
in Holy Water sort of conjuration…this was something else. We wanted something
more witchcrafty, more diablerist. Not demonalatrous but comfortable for a
demon. Something “The Other Magicians” would have done. We called upon the same
spirits and powers that we invoked when binding the spirit, but in more simple
fashions. Instead of a circle we drew their symbols on the floor in flour and
made offerings to them while singing their prayers.

We gave people wine, anointed them in
perfume, invited them to chant and dance and drink, and we offered a beautiful woman
in a diaphanous white night dress as a vessel for the demon to possess. She sat
enthroned on the seals arrayed as portals for the spirits. We sang and poured
out offerings on the floor. We called names from the Hygromanteia and used
prayers from the PGM, and the demon came.

In this post I will share the ritual we
used for the celebration. The script is the formal part. But the space should
be open for the people to sign, dance, chant, drink, enjoy themselves like a
sabbat. It’s hard to get that to happen though without a few people who are
used to engaging that energy and living it. The scripted part should be a celebration, it
should be solemn but engaging, the Gatekeeper and the Priest need to fully
embody the space of the work they’re doing. The Vessel needs to be open, and
preferably to have a relationship with the spirit.

In the next post I’ll talk a little about
the experience, things that happened surrounding the ritual.

Vessel – A Medium for the Demon. Is dressed in something
alluring, preferably white

Gatekeeper
– A Priest or Priestess of Hekate to facilitate in the Crossroads. The
Gatekeeper is armed with a dagger.

Drummers – Drum to raise the people to a state of
activity and to call up the spirits

Tools

Dagger

Candle

Wine Glass

Red Cloth

Silver Coin

Grape Wood Wand

Incense

Five Incense burners

Two
Coins

Temple

The temple is mostly
empty. There is plenty of space for people to move around and dance and celebrate.
On one side is a table for gifts and offerings, on the other is a table for
drinks. At the apex of the temple is a pillar or stand of some sort, before it
is a throne and before that an altar. Incense is set burning on the altar and
on the four quarters of the room. A candle and a wine glass are set on the
altar along with the spirit’s house. Outside of the temple is a table of perfumes
and oils, and a selection of alcoholic beverages and glasses.

Pre-Ritual

The
Priest draws the Ponto for Hekate and for the Ancestors and
the Seal for the King, for the Angel and for the Demon so that they are
surrounding the more largely drawn seal for the spirit. The Pillar, Throne and
Altar will sit on top of the seal for the spirit. The Gatekeeper censes the temple making a four armed
crossroads in each quarter and across the temple floor then returns the incense
to the altar. The Priest and Gatekeeper
leave the temple. They return with the
Vessel. The Priest carries
the wine glass, the Vessel
following after him carries the spirit house, the Gatekeeper follows the Vessel and carries the candle
which has been lit. They form a triangle around the altar. The Priest places the glass on the altar, he takes the
candle from the Gatekeeper
and places it on the altar, then he takes the spirit house and places it on the
pedestal. He retrieves the alcohol which will be offered to the spirit and puts
a small amount in the wine glass. The
Priest takes the glass and goes to each quarter and sprinkles he then
returns to the altar and sprinkles there before returning the glass. As he does
this the Gatekeeper seats the Vessel on the throne. When
this is completed the Gatekeeper
admits the drummers who begin to play. Once they have begun the Gatekeeper admits the people
one at a time.

**Ceremony of Admission**

Rather than purification
those attending may anoint themselves with oils or perfumes, they may strip out
of undesired clothing or change into clothing more fitting for the celebration.

As they approach the
doorway they should take a drink and bring their glass into the temple.

At the doorway they are
stopped by the Gatekeeper with
his dagger

Gatekeeper:Why
do you approach this sacred and secret place?

Congregant:To go
under cover of night, away from the village, to celebrate with devils and
demons, faeries and angels the deeds of the demon.

Gatekeeper:
[removes dagger, and admits the congregant] Welcome

Ritual

**Hekate**

The
Gatekeeper begins by lighting the incense and
circles over the circles with it. He then places two coins on the ground.

Priest:Charon accept this payment,
and bring forth those who came before us that they may partake of this offering
and share in it with you, and with those gods Hades, Persephone, Demeter,
Dionysos, Iris and Hekate!

The
Gatekeeper begins chanting names and epithets for Hekate.
The congregation joins in. This continues throughout the conjuration of each of
the spiritual forces. Throughout this the people may drink and dance.

The
Gatekeeper continues chanting names and goes to the
Ponto for Hekate. He lights the candles and blows incense over it. He pours oil
over it and makes an offering of alcohol and of blood. While this is done the Priest sings the Hymn for
Hekate.

Priest:I call Einodian Hecate,
lovely dame,

Of earthly, watery, and
celestial frame,

Sepulchral, in a saffron
veil arrayed,

Leased with dark ghosts that
wander through the shade;

Persian, unconquerable
huntress hail!

The world's key-bearer never
doomed to fail;

On the rough rock to wander
thee delights,

Leader and nurse be present
to our rites

Propitious grant our just
desires success,

Accept our homage, and the incense bless.

**Ancestors**

The
Gatekeeper continues chanting the names but moves to
the Ponto for the Ancestors and repeats the process of opening it while the Priest prays:

Priest:Lord of Life and Joy, that
art the might of man, that art the essence of every true god that is upon the
surface of the Earth, continuing knowledge from generation unto generation,
thou adored of us upon heaths and in woods, on mountains and in caves, openly
in the marketplaces and secretly in the chambers of our houses, in temples of
gold and ivory and marble as in these other temples of our bodies, we worthily
commemorate them worthy that did of old adore thee and manifest they glory unto
men

**Angel**

The
Gatekeeper moves to the Seal of Cassiel and begins
to open it as the Priest
prays:

Priest:Hear me you Angels, Michael,
Raphael, Uriel and Gabriel, be my aid in these petitions and my aid in all my
affairs!

In the Name of the Most High
God, in the Name of the Lord of Hosts, I conjure and confirm upon you, Cassiel,
Machator, and Seraquiel, strong and powerful angels by the Name Adonai Tzaveot,
that you will attend this celebration, I adjure you by my appeal to the throne
of the Lord, By the Holy and Mighty God who is our Aid Against Death, He who is
the Beginning and the End through his three secret names AGLA, ON, YHVH, by
which you will fulfill today those things which I desire. I conjure upon you,
Cassiel, who is chief ruler of the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, that you
will attend us and aid us in this celebration.

**King**

The
Gatekeeper moves to the Seal of Egyn and begins to
open it as the Priest prays:

Priest:Oh great and potent spirit
Egyn, King of the North, who rules the Northern region of the world, I adjure
you, I call upon you, and most powerfully and earnestly I urge you by, in, and
through the virtue power and might of these efficacious and binding names,
YHVH+, EHIH+, Adonai+, AGLA+, El+, Tzvot+, Elohim+, of the Almighty, Immense Incomprehensible
and Everliving God, the omnipotent Creator of heaven and Earth. I

call upon you, Oh you
powerful and regal spirit Egyn, by the power of Elohim+ in the presence of Gabriel+
to attend us, in all mildness, peace, and friendliness, without any hurt,
disturbance, or any other evil whatsoever, either to us, or this place. Mighty
Egyn courteously and obediently you fulfill our desire and be present for this
celebration, Oh Royal and Potent spirit Egyn, in the name of Shaddai+

**Demon**

The
Gatekeeper moves to the Seal of Doolas and begins to
open it as the Priest prays:

Priest:By the
might of the Angel Cassiel, by the name of the Most High God, Lord of Hosts,
Adonai Tzaveot, by the might of the King Egyn, by the hand of his emissary Lambricon,
we ask that Doolas be brought forth. By the pact we have made before, and by
the swift work of Lambricon we invite Doolas to enter herein, to join in this
celebration and to reaffirm the bonds which bind Tobias to us.

**Spirit**

Praising
the Spirit

The
Priest raises the jar from the pedestal and carries it
around the Temple before the people. He extemporaneously thanks and praises the
work of the spirit. When he is done he will shout “Hail Tobias!” and the Vessel will repeat this and
encourage the people to switch to chanting for Tobias. The Gatekeeper continue chanting or meditating upon Hekate
and opening the door ways and roads.

The
Priest brings the jar back to the altar and places it there
with the candle the incense and the wine glass. He pours a libation into the
glass, whiskey or absinthe or wine. He places incense onto the coal.

Priest:Tobias
we give you these offerings of thanks and invite your presence here.

Anointing
the Jar

The
Priest takes perfume and anoints the rim of the jar

Priest:We
recall your baptism

The
Priest takes oil and anoints the rim of the jar

Priest:
We
recall your confirmation to our purpose

The
Priest takes blood and anoints the rim of the jar and also
retraces the seals on the jar

Priest:With
this blood we strengthen you and we strengthen the bonds which tie you to us

Washing
and crowning the Vessel

The
Priest takes perfumed water and pours it over the head of
the Vessel as is baptizing her:

Priest:May
you be made open and ready to receive the spirit

The
Priest takes oil and anoints the forehead and the crown of the Vessel’s head.

Priest:
May
the fires of the spirit stir within you

The
Priest takes the blood and anoints the forehead and the crown
of the Vessel’s head.

Priest:May
the blood which binds him to us be a bond between him and you.

The
Priest lays the red cloth over the crown of her head and
places his hands upon the cloth, standing behind her.

Calling
the Spirit

While the Vessel calls upon Tobias the
people continue chanting his name. The
Priest keeps his head upon the cloth and chants these names.

The Vessel looks at the jar. In one hand she
holds the grape wood. The other hand touches the jar.

Vessel:Hail serpent and stout lion,
natural sources of fire

Hail
clear water and lofty-leafed tree

And
you who gather up clover from golden fields of beans

And
who cause gentle foam to gush forth from pure mouths.

Scarab
who drive the orb of fertile fire, O self-engendered one

Because
you are Two-syllabled, AE, and are the first appearing one

Nod
me assent I pray, because your mystic symbols I declare,

EO
AI OY AMERR OOUOTH IYIOE MARMARAUOTH LAILAM SOUMARTA

Be
gracious unto me first-father and May you yourself send strength as my
companion.

I
conjure you holy light, holy brightness, by the wholy names which I have spoken
and am now going to speak. By IAO SABAOTH ARBATHIAO SESENGENBARPHARAGGES
ABLANATHANALBA ALRAMMACHAMARI AI AI IAO AX AX INAX remain by me in this present
hour, until, I pray to the god, and learn about the things I desire.

At
this point the Vessel makes
an extemporaneous prayer to Tobias to come to her and be known through her. It
is best that this is an affectionate plea for contact and co-agency. She
continues this and the chanting continues until she feels the spirit with her
or until the spirit makes it self known though communion with her.

Gifts
and Oracles

The ritual continues as a
party. People take turns coming up and making offerings to the spirit and
asking for his blessing for themselves and for the Lodge. The spirit may
provide oracles or general or specific blessings as it desires or not if it
does not desire so.